My home is a mess

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies.
YL, I hope you`re spending at least some time this weekend enjoying being outdoors, even if you do have to catch up some inside. If you`ve had a hectic week you need to relax a bit too!
Most of my efforts the last couple of days have been outside. It still looks very wild & messy, but better. Indoors can wait, apart from food & barest essentials!
Hope you`re all having a good weekend. x.

alec_eiffel

The sun enticed us outside this weekend too. I can honestly say that now it looks like a garden. The planting under the trees is a little sparse and there's a big gap where a compost bin should be. But if you came over and stepped outside then you'd think it was a garden, not a work in progress, not a jungle and not a mess. That's good enough for me! After all, small plants will get bigger so the empty bits will be less empty at some point.

We also cleaned the drive, got rid of the weeds and moss so that looks fine. We finally organised the upstairs cupboards and I think they're sensible now and hopefully will work for us. happy times! Hope everyone else had a good weekend whatever you did.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
I have officially declared it is Summer - that is, I have washed and put away (in caravan of Doom) the woolly LR rugs, and put down the white-ish heavy woven cotton ones. They look more `summery`, make LR feel cooler somehow. So of course, it is dull and wet again, less than 24 hours after my rug-change. All my fault. Sorry folks!
Still, there are advantages -
1)the cotton rugs are reversible, shake outside & turn when side A gets grubby.
2)they don`t shed & combine with dog-hair as much as the woolly ones.
Disadvantages-
1) they are too heavy for my WM when wet, although they would fit one at a time. Not too bad, as the launderette can do 3 at a time for £3.50, hot wash & they come up lovely. I only use 2 at a time, and have 3 pairs (because they are CHEAP!) and I keep them in caravan of Doom.
2) they take much longer to dry than the woolly winter rugs.

I have also done a bit of furniture-swapping, only taken the folding table out of the corner between wall & sofa shoved sofa along right up to the wall, & put table at the other end of the sofa. It hasn`t changed the `outline` of the furniture (which is important as poor old Daftie-Dog is really blind now) but the table lamp is now more
effective in the room than when it was in the corner. (The lamp is a sort of glass vase with loads of tiny cracks, filled with a tangle of white `fairy lights`, I fell in love with it in a sale at Dunelm - it`s lovely when there`s no fire in the hearth, just adds a bit of brightness without having to faff with candles.)
AND, I cleaned (cos I HAD to) behind & under the sofa!!!!
This is probably (at best!) an annual event, it was very hairy and spidery, but I did give spiders time to get away.

I also did a skip-run yesterday, mostly junk found in the garden which had been hiding in the undergrowth. And another task I`d been putting off for ages, `doubling` my Mr T vouchers, getting eye-test & choosing new specs. Sorted, all in one day!
Made pizza from scratch (x3) in the evening, which all got eaten, & kitchen tidied as I went along!!
A sense of progress here, but lots more stuff I`d like to get done...
Today, I need to nip to farmshop, and slow pot-roasting a thawed lump of silverside early so I can slice it for tonight.
Have a nice Tuesday all. x

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
I hope you`re all happy & well out there & busy keeping on top of things (or getting somewhere up the slope at least!)
I`ve been thinking this morning, reviewing my domestic activities over the last few days. It is a familiar pattern of `Messydom`. A sort of `3 steps forwards, 2 steps back` even when lots of stuff is getting done.
I found some screen-cleaner spray in caravan of Doom, and some microfibre glass-cloths. I cleaned & polished a glass ornament on mantelpiece, and the 3 glass framed pictures in LR, the pc monitor screen, then did the printer & keyboard.
Looks better, much grime removed! Unfortunately the keyboard didn`t appreciae my efforts, as I now have a sticky `y` in addition to the sticky `b` and the lazy `t` I already had!
I also got DS to kindly put in a couple of new printer ink cartridges for me , and he managed to get ink on his jeans & t-shirt. Lovely, printer now working perfectly, but DS`s clothes still have faint ink marks after 3 goes in WM!
Putting the cotton summer rugs down in LR seemed to make the hearth look dingy as we`ve not lit the fire for a while...so I spent a happy hour black-leading the grate with an old toothbrush. Now I remember why this is something I very rarely do - my hands were aching the rest of the day!
`Strimmer Man` has been and tackled some of the high privet hedge between us & our noisy-but-nice` next doors.(No birds in this section as the kids play the other side) It looks so much better out there, but despite his clearing up the cuttings there are suddenly lots of little bits of privet leaves finding their way indoors.
Can`t win!

alec_eiffel

That sounds about right! All projects have thing babies so it seems.

We bought some cork tiles and the other assorted stuff to do the bathroom floor and some lino for the toilet so we'll be doing that this weekend. Not exciting but I can't wait to get it done.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Well Alec, your post inspired me to clean the upstairs loo again! It generally only gets used during the night & early morning - when I am half asleep and not noticing how bad it suddenly gets. I do keep the downstairs loo clean because it`s used so much more, and the handbasin gets a hammering too after other tasks like feeding Daftie-dog, garden stuff, or other `dirty` jobs, so I notice it more. I am far better able to ignore upstairs things generally...(Shame!)
On the plus side though, toilets and bathrooms tend to be smaller more `defined` spaces, so whether it`s flooring, decorating or cleaning, the end is soon in sight!
Light at the end of the tunnel (even if it`s only a train!)

Weekend is here again, and apart from nipping to farmshop tomorrow I am quite RESOLVED not to go shopping. I don`t need to, and will make do with what`s in if I start to change my mind! Also, I don`t need to water anything outside as we`ve had intermittent showers for a few days.
This means I might get somehing done indoors....
DGD is in residence for the weekend, and has had a truly glowing school report! All her teachers are unanimous in praising her work, effort & attitude. (No idea where she gets that from, it ain`t genetic that`s for sure!) OK, they haven`t seen her bedroom - which I was thinking we might tackle together this weekend... but now that would seem a bit mean, a poor reward. Especially as my room is in a state.
Oh well.
Have a great weekend all, whatever you have planned. x

Buffythedebtslayer

I am in a terrible mess. The man and I split up last weekend. It has rocked me pretty badly, see diary for self pitying bs.

Being so happy and busy the house and my room especially has got to the point of disgusting.

Please send what ever vibes and prayers for me as I attempt to move on sort my life out starting with my bedroom. It is 3 o clock had this weekend gone the way I had expected a little over a week ago I would be coming home from a lovely weekend away. Writing that down really hurts.

So yeah. pretty bad. sorry to land this here. I will report back later with some good news please God.

Emm-in-a-pickle

Hi Messies!
Hope everyone`s had/still having a nice weekend, outdoorsing as much as possible in between wet & windy patches!

It`s been a funny one here, so far. Lots of things started, very little completed.
Did HM beefburgers last night, with baked aubergines and a HM tomato/onion sauce.
DS ate his late, and redecorated the kitchen with his share of the sauce. GRRRR!
It`s YS chicken thighs, stuffing, cabbage & carrots tonight, so mess should at least be less colourful.
I`ve done 2 WM loads and got them drying outside today. 2 false alarms of rain.
Started Henrying the landing, but with the brush attachment it was giving me a bit of a pain in my side, and thought I`d better leave it or change attachment, but can`t find the brushless one I need (DS had it last!! GRRR!)
Trying to wash DGD`s school stuff yesterday, we discovered her PE top was missing, so in the hunt her bedroom got even worse, though a fair bit of rubbish was identified & binned. Nothing much else done indoors.
Outdoors-
Lavender buds just showing a bit of colour. Chard & lettuces doing quite well.
I must stop looking at the marigolds & nasturtiums, I think they`re getting a complex!
Mystery Plant (which we first thought might be potato or turnip!) now identified. Charlock. The later leaves then the flowers comfirmed this - it was in some meadow flower seed we chucked around year before last!

Emm-in-a-pickle

Oh Buffy! Just saw your post when I posted mine that I started around 2pm!
((HUGS)) pet, I`m not going to use any of those awful cliches about your split with the man, but sending cheer-up vibes and a little prayer that you can feel positive about it very soon.x
Don`t apologise for a bit of self-pity and sharing it here. That`s what this is for.
I suggest trying to tackle the bits of your room that will make you feel better, think of it as trying to pamper yourself. Summer hols are coming soon, maybe you had plans for them, but start making plans for enjoying yourself again. You will!
More (((HUGS)))

Bennifred

Sorry to hear your news Buffy Chin up, chuck! xx